wlp570 flocculation question

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1Mainebrew

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Hey all. I recently brewed a Duvel clone. I used wlp570 with a 1 liter starter for a 4 gallon batch. My OG was 1.078. It has been 10 days so far in the primary (brewed 9/18/10). I still have a fairly active airlock activity. I have never used a yeast that floccs so poorly. What should I expect for total time in the primary? I know that it will depend on my gravities, but will my FG arrive before flocculation completes? Will I need to crash cool to clear it up? Once I get my FG can I bottle with plenty of yeast in suspension to carb well and then just condition longer in the bottle? Any input on this would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
I brewed with 570 on the 8th and your right. The krausen will take eternity to drop. I can tell you now that it is finally starting to clear after 3 weeks in the primary. I'm just going to let mine go for another week in the primary then bottle and age for 3 weeks. After that I'm just going to stick it in the fridge and let the yeast drop out that way. worked for me before when I used this strain.
 
Also, does a poorly flocculating yeast have less a chance of autolysis?
 
I'm not sure if or how flocculation affects autolysis. I wouldn't worry about it though. I always leave my beer in the primary anywhere from 3-6 weeks and have never had any problems. There are many people that do the same and if anything the beer will turn out better when you keep it in the primary longer. This is one of many threads that really helped me sort out this whole autolysis, primary vs. secondary thing: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/
 
My reason for asking this is that I read on another thread that somebody used this yeast and his gravity dropped 20 points in 4 months in the secondary. Should I prepare for something like that? I am not super keen on keeping my beer on the trub for 4-5 months. 4-6 weeks doesn't bother me one bit. I'm just wondering if that will be enough time for this yeast to attenuate and begin flocculation in addition to get to terminal gravity. That is my concern. Is 2 months on the trub too long, or is it necessary with wlp570? Beyond that, will I need a significantly longer fermentation time so that secondary will, arguably, be necessary? Granted, I know that I have not rechecked my gravities and that will be a far better indicator as to how close I actually am to bottling time, but just looking for a heads up. Thanks again.
 
OK, so this whole thing made me think, what the hay, why not just stop typing and check your gravity fool! So, the result is 1.010. Again, still airlock activity. And to boot, my est. final gravity was 1.017. So since I've already overshot it, should I just bottle, or should I let things roll for a little while longer?
 
Take gravity readings on three successive days (or, if you can wait, wait an extra day between each reading) to be sure it's not moving. If it's still dropping, you risk bottle bombs.

It's very possible you'll get lower than 1.010. I just bottled a 1.086 OG Belgian finish at 1.005. It was in the primary for 5 weeks.
 
It's still very green, so it had some bite to it, but was generally tasty.

I used cultured Delirium Tremens dregs, which (from what I've read) are approximately equivalent to WLP550+WLP570.
 
Does anyone have anything else that they would like to add about wlp 570 or any other low flocculating yeasts behavior, ect? I needs the learnin'.
 
hey, just as I was taking a sample of my 570 brew my phone/email went off informing me of your post. crazy! anyway, My sample ended up reading 1.007 and will take another reading in a week and will most definitely bottle since this thing has attenuated at 88 percent and I really didn't use too much sugar. It has cleared up quite a bit and the sample tastes good. I brewed this on the 8th. It definitely takes time to flocculate but after a month at an OG of 1.064 this yeast seems to be done and ready to bottle. I've found that you just gotta let it sit on the primary and do it's thing for about a month and you're good to go! Of course this all depends on your original gravity.
 
Yeah, I figured that if the gravity kept dropping I'd need to leave it alone. But once the gravity is stable, should I bottle or let it flocculate? What if the gravity drops VERY slowly in the bottle over time, will that lead to bottle bombs?
 
The Duvel strain is one of the SLOWEST yeasts around. I've done two triples with the Wyeast version of it (1388), and left both on the yeast for about two months. No trace of autolysis, and both finished very low and had great flavor. Make sure you pitch a healthy starter and give it time.

And by time I mean "Give it as long as you think it could possibly take, then add a few weeks".
 
Thanks for the heads up. Mine seems to still be clearing and am no hurry to get it out of the fermentor. I'll definetly take your advice and let it be for a couple weeks or so. The sample sure was tasty though! Might as well let it get tastier.
 
The Duvel strain is one of the SLOWEST yeasts around. I've done two triples with the Wyeast version of it (1388), and left both on the yeast for about two months. No trace of autolysis, and both finished very low and had great flavor. Make sure you pitch a healthy starter and give it time.

And by time I mean "Give it as long as you think it could possibly take, then add a few weeks".

This might be the most helpful thing I've read on this strain. Thank you very much for posting this.
 
So here's an update on the batch. I recently bottled it on 10/18. Then after like 5 days in the bottle I figured that I would put one in the fridge and check to see how it was doing. Come to find out, it tasted great but had almost no carbonation and no head. I used a decent amount of priming sugar (4.5 oz for a 4 gal batch) so I figured that there would be some carbonation even though it was green and only a few days in the bottle. So I've been waiting and letting them sit hoping that the yeasties will eat the remainder of that sugar and give me some carbonation. How long should I expect to wait before that occurs with this yeast? How long should it be in the bottle at room temp before transfer to the fridge? Then, how long in the fridge (because of the inversely proportional relationship of temperature to solubility of CO2 gas)? Any thoughts would be appreciated. C'mon fellas, don't leave me hanging!
 
This is yet another thread having to do with impatience. Just let it be and let the yeast do what it has done for eons. There is nothing wrong with your beer except the fact that you keep fussing over it. Go brew another batch to take your attention off of this one.
 
This is yet another thread having to do with impatience. Just let it be and let the yeast do what it has done for eons. There is nothing wrong with your beer except the fact that you keep fussing over it. Go brew another batch to take your attention off of this one.

Thanks for the advice. Still working on this one, patience that is.
 
Its been a few more weeks and it certainly is helping. I think patience may be a tool that I will use more frequently in my brewing arsenal from now on.
 
Another week down in the fridge and boy o boy what a difference that has made. I think I've learned my lesson. Its SOOO much better now that it was even a week ago. I now need to leave the rest alone.
 
Thanks for posting this and all the replies everyone. I have a stepped up starter of this going right now for my "Devilish Golden". I noticed the same thing with this yeast trying to get it to flock for the first step. Didn't work so I had to go to a bigger container. It really took a good 24 hours in the fridge to drop. I have a nice size layer of this to use now. Hopefully it doesn't rain tomorrow and I can brew!

Curious, what recipe did you use? I'm going to use one pretty close to the extract version of this
 
Well, after letting this sit for 2 months at room temp and 1 month in the fridge, this beer is crystal clear, delicious as all get out, and strong enough to knock me on my butt without ever giving a hint of being 9.3% ABV. I'm planning on saying its "ready" in January. We'll see if I have the self-control not to kick them back before then. I definitely learned that patience is a very good thing for our brews.
 
Curious, what recipe did you use? I'm going to use one pretty close to the extract version of this

My recipe was simply mashing 11 lbs of belgian pilsner 2-row at 152 for 90 mins and then adding 1 lb of corn sugar to the boil 75 mins into it (90 min boil). I am not sure what the extract conversion would be. Super simple recipe though. I hopped it with 1 oz styrian goldings for 60 mins of the boil. It is very similar to Duvel. I had a 2 pint starter with wlp 570 and probably could have gone a little bigger. If you are thinking about getting into AG, this is a very easy and very tasty recipe to do it with. Best wishes with your brews.
 
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